IMPORTANCE OF RIVERS IN INDIA

Well life is impossible without water and so do the life of Indians without rivers which form an important part of their lives.

Almost every river in India is revered as a goddess. Be it Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati (Mythology), Narmada, Tapti etc..

Even their tributaries are revered and so do their distributaries. Fir eg. Tapti is considered as Daughter of Sun. There are mythological and spiritual stories associated with all the rivers in India.

Irrigation is India is mainly served by two sources : 1. Rains (Mostly unpredictable) 2. Rivers.

Rivers and the associated dams/canals are a major sources of irrigation in India, thus directly affecting Indian food security. Punjab and Haryana has one of the best canal irrigation system in India that dates back to pre-independence era. These states are food grains bowl of India.

Rivers helps in maintaining ecological balance.

Glaciers situated in Himalayas and carried forward as rivers are again important source of water (drinking and industrial) that affects socio-economic life of millions of people in India.

Rivers in india are a great source of income and also a boost to the economy.

History states that rivers in india were majorly responsible for inland transportation of agricultural goods and also during the times of war, they served an important role in transporting the machinery and soldiers.

Whereas india being a majorly agricultural dependant nation depends more on our Rivers for irrigation purposes. Over 90 percent of agrarian land is irrigated and this becomes more important in deciding how the economy would be in the future.

The rivers in india derive the water from two sources namely from the glaciers and the others from the rain water. So the rivers filling from glacial sources form most of the northern indian rivers and those filling from the rain water form the eastern, Western and the southern part.

Say of there was a deficit of rain fall, then the river would not be full and hence this affects the irrigation plans of the states, as you know most of the southern parts of India have come under severe drought since a year and this has become a major cause for decrease in our second main crop-the rice.

So once the agriculture is down, there would be an increase in the prices of food grains and this will contribute to a rise in food inflation and if the inflation is raised, the common man will have to bear the burden.

Lack of water had created wars between nations and even now india and China as well as india and pakistan are fighting for the waters of indus and brahmaputra that flows through these countries. So we can infer that rivers also affect the relations between countries.

India is still heavily dependant on river water for electricity generation, the thermal power plants utilise river water for cooling the plants and if the rivers are incompletely filled or unfilled against the decided quantity, we will have power deficit.

Hence putting together, rivers are the heart of our economy and if there's anything that has to be done to improve the economy then we need to make use of our Rivers very effectively.

The rivers in India are all holy. Our Indus, Kosi, Saryu and Yamuna are sacred to us. They all play an important role in our agriculture and promote our trade.

“But this is not all. Each of them is like a temple”.

For Indian, a river is like a temple. And, what is more, it is our own mother.

What is the result?

Indian rivers have produced poets, saints and philosopher.

Triveni Sangam at Allahabad is a lovely place but, more than this, it is a holy place. No wonder, out saints and thinkers of old lived and died on the banks of these rivers.

A mother, we know, has to suffer for her children. Our rivers have a similar fate. All our big rivers are born on some hill or mountain. They are fed by snow or rain or both. So, the Indus, the Ganges, the Kosi, the Narmada and the Kaveri flow all the year round. Other rivers are born only during the rains. So, they dry up in summer.

In this way, our rivers feed on ordinary water – snow water and rain water. But the water they give us is the water of life:

They give health to our fields and forests. The silt they bring is a food for our soil. A barren piece of land is turned into a lovely garden.

They feed not only our land and plants but also our mills and factories. River water is turned into a new power called electricity, and thus, in turn, helps our trade and industry.

“How noble the Indian rivers are! How hard their journey is! But they don’t mind it at all”.

They toil across all the rocks and core to us running, playing and smiling. They live their life only by giving just as a mother sacrifices all for her children.